Mike Sherman and his Texas A&M staff aren’t doing the worst coaching job in college football.

They can’t be.

With Michigan’s Rich Rodriguez and Co. creating the blue in Big Blue, Sherman’s crew isn’t even doing the worst job among the big boys. (Let’s not waste energy arguing whether A&M is one of the big boys.)

According to Sagarin’s calculations, the Aggies have performed better than only two BCS-conference schools — No. 117 Washington and No. 120 Syracuse — and been outperformed by a host of lower-level Division I schools and even 12 Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) squads.

To break it down a little further:

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Not only is A&M ranked below Southern Cal, it is behind Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.

Ranking below Louisiana State is acceptable; being behind Louisiana-Lafayette is not. Trailing Florida State is OK, but looking up to Florida International is pathetic.

Let’s not even get into the embarrassment of being rated behind William and Mary.

When it comes to ranking, Texas A&M should never be 110th in anything. A&M is better than that. The fans at Kyle Field, though decreasing slightly in number (there was more red in that 86,000 on Saturday than there ever has been), deserve better.

The BCS standings were released Sunday, and nobody in College Station paid any attention to them. How could they with you-know-who sitting at No. 1?

Home sour home

Meanwhile, A&M is one home defeat away (Colorado heads to College Station on Nov. 1, and worse yet, No. 4 BCS-ranked Oklahoma will be there the next week) from losing five games at Kyle Field for the first time since … uh, never.

The Aggies will probably finish the season with their worst record since Dennis Franchione’s first year, a 4-8 campaign in 2003 that was blamed on his predecessor’s leaving the cupboard bare.

The Aggies will probably finish the season with their worst record since Dennis Franchione’s first year, a 4-8 campaign in 2003 that was blamed on his predecessor’s leaving the cupboard bare.

We’re hearing similar rumbling from the Aggies this year, blaming Franchione for the mess the program is in. That was unacceptable then, and it is unacceptable now.

Sherman hasn’t quite gone to that one yet, but we’ll see how long he can hold off.

My record shows a yes vote on the Sherman referen-dum. There were two major reasons for that lever pull:

Sherman, a smart coach, would hire one of the sharpest staffs in the country.

Sherman, a smart coach, and his sharp staff would outcoach more than their share of foes.

Thus far, neither supposition has proved accurate.

Sherman’s staff isn’t at the level of what Franchione tried to win with — did you notice there was no national rush to hire his assistants when they were asked to leave town? — but it’s not loaded with the hot names and up-and-comers many expected.

Save for on-the-field results, media aren’t in a position to judge a staff too harshly — we’re not playing for them or coaching against them — but in talks with coaches around the country, Sherman’s staff has yet to get a five-star review.

As for outcoaching foes, is anybody buying that, thanks to excellent coaching, the Aggies are playing above their talent level? That without this superb leadership their blowout losses could have been worse? That brilliant coaching is responsible for barely managed wins over New Mexico and Army?

Slow to adjust?

After an 11-year stay in the NFL, Sherman is still making the adjustment to the limited time a coach is allowed to spend with college players. Perhaps he and offensive coordinator Nolan Cromwell, who hadn’t coached at the college level before this year, are still getting a feel for what can and can’t be run with precision by college players, particularly the ones they have on campus.

At least we have seen a few offensive sparks. Defensively, A&M is horrible, so bad (101st out of 119 FBS schools) that holding Texas Tech to 43 points and 450 passing yards was darn near cause for celebration. The Aggies’ previous two opponents, Oklahoma State and Kansas State, scored 56 and 44 points, respectively.

A&M (2-5) must win four of its remaining five games to become bowl-eligible. That won’t happen.

Is it the coaching or the players?

Kines shoulders blame

Defensive coordinator Joe Kines, veteran that he is, is falling all over himself to take the blame so many want to heap on his players. He has been very convincing.

We know he can coach, but with teams going up and down the field on the Aggies so easily so often, it looks like A&M has a coaching problem.

Maybe this is just a down season in a down decade for a down program.

Maybe this coaching staff can turn things around. Perhaps it can show recruits that if they come to A&M, they’ll learn more about football than at most schools.

We know Mike Sherman isn’t the worst coach in the country. In fact, the opposite may indeed be true; he just hasn’t shown it yet.

Hurry up, Coach. This isn’t the NFL. There is barely more than a month left in the season, and February is right around the corner.